Mark Hapka was born and raised in upstate NY and attended college in Syracuse where he studied music education and was a vocal major. After building a strong foundation in theater, his passion for film brought him to LA in the summer of 2005 to begin his journey in the entertainment industry, primarily in acting. Being new to the city -- having never visited before and not knowing a single soul -- he moved into a hotel downtown where he contemplated his next move. He decided to enroll in acting classes at Playhouse West where he studied under Jeff Goldblum, Robert Carnegie, Mark Pellegrino and Sean Barnes, four influential people in the industry.
Mark landed his first job working on James Franco's film Good Time Max. After that, he starred in a variety of short films and independent projects. His first starring role in a feature independent film was as "Danny McKay" in The Danny McKay Project, in which he took on the role of a young man searching for the meaning of life while battling a terminal brain tumor. Mark really dedicated himself to becoming the character, losing 40 pounds over the course of a 45-day shoot in order to portray the character's deterioration. The second audition he ever went on landed him the starring role on the hit TV series' web-spin off, Ghost Whisperer: The Other Side in which he played a ghost who crosses over into the television series to seek the help of "Melinda Gordon" (Jennifer Love Hewitt).
Mark has guest starred on other hit TV shows, including as a preppy student in Greek, as Hannah's fake boyfriend, country rocker Austin Rain on Hannah Montana and as an abusive boyfriend on Cold Case, to name a few. He recently wrapped two films in which he plays two completely different characters. In the high school wrestling drama Near Fall, he plays a high school student struggling to make adolescent decisions while finding his place in the world of wrestling. In Midgets vs. Mascots, which took third place out of 90 films at the Tribeca Film Festival, Mark does an amazing job conquering impromptu comedy as the preppy antagonist in this mockumentary alongside Jason Mewes, Ron Jeremy, Scottie Pippen and Gary Coleman. In 2009, Mark apepared in the High School Musical spoof titled Private High Musical.
June 18, 2009 to May 17, 2011
Hannah Montana
Austin Rain
2009
Cold Case
Mark Callahan '76
2009
Greek
Jeff
2008
Ghost Whisperer: The Other Side
Zach
2008
Ghost Whisperer
Zach
2007-2008
PLACE OF BIRTH: Buffalo, New York
DATE OF BIRTH: May 29, 1982